Friday, September 28, 2012

Forecasting the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics

The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (aka the Nobel Prize in Economics) will be announced on Monday, October 15, 2012. Of the 68 men and 1 woman who have won the award outright or shared in it since the prize began in 1969, 48 have been Americans. The leading university homes of the winners include the University of Chicago (10), followed by the University of California-Berkeley (5), Columbia (4), Harvard (4), and Cambridge University, England (4).

Now, let's see how well you can forecast. Who will be awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics? Your educated guess must be posted as a comment to this post before the Nobel Prize announcement is made. In the event that more than one person submits identical guesses, the earlier time stamp of the comment will determine the winner. The bonus points will be added to the winner's next exam score following the Nobel announcement on October 15.

Congratulations to Al Roth (Harvard) and Lloyd Shapley (UCLA) as this year's winners of the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences for their work on "the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design." Unfortunately, no one correctly predicted either of them to win this year.

Rules of the Game

Throughout the semester you will have the opportunity to earn some bonus points by correctly answering economics related trivia questions. Some questions will require you to search the web for the answers, others may require you to search your textbooks, and still others may require you to simply use economic analysis to come up with the correct answer.

> Only students who are currently enrolled in one of my courses may participate.

> Use your full name when making a comment to ensure proper credit.

> The first student to correctly answer the question will earn 2 bonus points to be added onto his or her next exam score.